Reply to What's on the Menu for the Week?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]For the people who plan their week of dinners, is it more efficient to plan ahead, or is it to let the kids know what is set for the week, or what are your reasons? Are you using frozen meat and fish or do you have to go back to the market mid-week?[/quote]

I do it so that I can make one grocery trip each week, either on Saturday or Sunday.  By planning all meals, I can get everything I need for the week in that one trip, and also avoid getting a bunch of extra stuff that ends up spoiling.  I also plan for re-use of leftovers in different ways throughout the week (I posted earlier about roasting a chicken on Sunday, then using the leftovers in something later in the week).

I mostly buy meat in bulk and freeze family-meal-sized portions (about a pound, depending on the meat).  So my first step in meal planning is to review the freezer contents to figure out what I can use, then I build the menu around that.  If I plan in a meal that requires fresh meat / seafood from the store, I plan on having those early in the week, then fill in with stuff from my freezer later in the week.  I also plan to use the more delicate fresh vegetables - anything that would spoil or get "limp" - early in the week, and save heartier vegetables for later in the week.  By the end of the week, we often have a night of smorgasboard leftovers (stir fries are great for this!) or something completely out of the freezer + pantry staples like rice.

It also helps keep me motivated to actually cook a good dinner.  If I come home at 6:30 on a Tuesday evening and walk into the kitchen thinking "what am I going to make for dinner tonight..." - it's not going to happen.  We'll order pizza.  If I walk into the kitchen knowing exactly what I'm going to make and what I need to do (and bonus points if part of it was prepped the night before, even just taking meat out of the freezer to thaw - anything that "commits" me to that meal), I'm a lot more likely to actually get a decent dinner on the table.[/quote]

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